Collaborative Programming and Software Design

Modern software is complex and more than a single person can fully comprehend. This course teaches the principles and techniques of writing modular and composable code and collaborating with others in software design. The topics include advanced concepts and techniques in modern programming languages, principles of modularity, software architecture, design patterns, software development processes, and other examples of software design. A significant portion of the assignment is a group project to develop a groupware system. Students enrolled in the class are expected to already have significant programming experience in some languages. The programming languages used in lectures are mainly Ruby, Haskell and Rust.

Policies for grading, attendance, and academic honesty (updated 8/18)

The workload will be heavy. Be sure to read instructions for each assignment and exam carefully, start the assignment early, know where/when to seek help, and work with peers. (read more)

Grading:

3 exams, roughly 30%

attendance and written homework, about 10%

assignments and projects, approximately 60%

Assignments are typically handed out before Monday and due Friday midnight.

Preparation (before first class):

“No Silver Bullet — Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering” is a classic paper on software engineering written by Turing Award winner Fred Brooks in 1986. Read the paper (available here) pages 3 to 5 on the “essential difficulties” of software development and skim the rest of the paper.

“A former member of the SD10 Panel on Computing in Support of Battle Management explains why he believes the ‘star wars’ effort will not achieve its stated goals.” Read the paper (available here if accessed inside the UR network) pages 2 to 4 the section titled “Why software is unreliable.” Which of the “essential difficulties” was Parnas discussing?

You can read this and other articles by borrowing the book “Software Fundamentals” from the textbook reserve for CSC 253/453 at the Carlson Library. The lease is two hours.

Further material will be distributed through the Blackboard web site for students who have registered. Contact the instructor if you have problem accessing the site.

Policies for CSC 2/453

The workload will be heavy. Be sure to read instructions for each assignment and exam carefully, start the assignment early, know where/when to seek help, and work with peers.

Grades will be released periodically to Blackboard, the University’s on-line course management system.

Attendance and Class Participation

Class attendance is mandatory. Please arrive on time. I expect to start at 3:25 sharp, and late arrivals disturb the people who are already there. You are encouraged to ask or answer questions in class. I may call on you just to know what you think. As a general rule, if there’s something you don’t understand, make me stop and explain it. Other people sitting around you probably didn’t understand it either, but don’t have the nerve to say so. Likewise, let me know if I’m belaboring something that you already know.

For most lectures, I will assign reading before and after. Reading is mandatory It includes all lecture slides released to Blackboard, and textbook chapters/sections listed on the first slide of each lecture. The exams include topics covered in class and in the required reading.

Late Submission Policy

A student may have a total of two extra days in all individual assignments. They can be used as either a one-day extension for two assignments, or a two-day extension for one assignment. Additional extensions are given to students who attend research/education conferences. The length of extension is roughly equal to the days of the conference plus travel. A student must inform the TA about the extension before the due time. No other late submission is permitted.

Collaboration on programming assignments among team members is of course expected. Collaboration on assignments across teams is encouraged at the level of ideas. Feel free to ask each other questions, brainstorm on algorithms, or work together at a whiteboard. You may not claim work as your own, however, unless you transform the ideas into substance by yourself. Among other things, this means that you must leave any brainstorming sessions with no written or electronic notes—only what you carry in your head.

If you use the work of others (e.g., you download a function from the web at the last minute so that you can get the rest of your project working), then (1) either you must have the author’s explicit permission or the material must be publicly available, and (2) you must label what you copied, clearly and prominently, when you hand it in. You will of course get points only for the parts of your assignment that you wrote yourself.

To minimize the temptation to steal code, all students are expected to protect any directories or on-line repositories in which they do their work.

For purposes of this class, academic dishonesty is defined as

Any attempt to pass off work on an exam or quiz that didn’t come straight out of your own head.

Any collaboration on assignments beyond the sharing of ideas, unless the collaborating parties clearly and prominently explain exactly who did what, at turn-in time.

Any activity that has the effect of significantly impairing the ability of another student to learn. Examples here might include destroying the work of others, interfering with their access to resources, or deliberately providing them with misleading information.

Note that grades in CSC 2/453 are assigned on the basis of individual merit rather than relative standing, so there is no benefit—even a dishonest one—to be gained by sabotaging the work of others.

I work under the assumption that students are honest. I will not go looking for exceptions. If I discover one, however, I will come down on it very hard. Over the past few years, the department has submitted violation cases to the College Board on Academic Honesty. Many resulted in major penalties for the students involved.